About
The North Hampton Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, registered in the State of New Hampshire, dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of North Hampton and the Seacoast region. Since 1971, we have collected, protected, and interpreted the stories, places, and people that shape the community—connecting residents and visitors to a deeper understanding of its past.
About the North Hampton Historical Society
About Us
In 1971 the Library Director and Trustees, Friends of the Library, and other interested community members founded the North Hampton Historical Society.
It produced in short order two publications -Scenes of the Past in North Hampton and a rendering of the 1857 Chace map with illustrations added by Benjamin C. Newell. Proceeds were used to furnish the New Hampshire Room of the new (at that time) Library. Then in 1978 it assisted in funding the completion of the Town’s only published history The Way it was in North Hampton by Stillman Moulton Hobbs and Helen Davis Hobbs.
The Collection
The Library’s New Hampshire Room housed the Society’s collections of documents, scrapbooks, photographs, ephemera and artifacts. The space proved inadequate and for nearly two decades, the collection has resided in a caged area of the records storage room of Town Offices, the only municipal building with a fire suppression system.
The former Curator, Priscilla Leavitt, accessioned those materials accepted by the Historical Society to provide intellectual and physical control over them, and re-housed them in archival quality enclosures. There are regularly changing exhibits in the Clerk / Tax Collector’s Building so all can see a sampling of the collections and learn about North Hampton.
Community Outreach
Outreach activities, including programs and exhibits, run the gamut from presentations, some co-sponsored with the Library or NH Humanities, to barn, trolley and cemetery tours, flyers on historical topics, and the North Hampton history timeline.
About North Hampton, New Hampshire
North Hampton is located Rockingham County. While the majority of the town is inland, North Hampton includes a part of New Hampshire's Atlantic seacoast. The population was 4,301 at the 2010 census.
What is now the town of North Hampton was part of Hampton, one of the four original New Hampshire townships established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638. The town of North Hampton was incorporated in 1742. Historically the town has had two town centers, the original settlement in the North Hill area (1675) with many 18th and 19th century houses, and the Town Hall (1844) settlement built up after the coming of the railroad in 1840. This area includes the town hall, library, railroad depot, stores, and many late 19th century houses. The town has three other early settlements: Pagetown (on the Exeter Road), Little River and Little Boar's Head in the 1700s, and the Mill Road/Mill Pond area from 1672 which included both saw and grist mills.
North Hampton has five National Register listings – the Little Boars Head Historic District, the North Hampton Town Hall, Centennial Hall, the Town Library, Drake Farm, as well as additional sites which have been determined eligible including the Eastern Railroad corridor.
Preliminary data from assessors records indicates that the town has one pre-1700 structure, approximately 26 buildings dating to the 1700s, 70 which date to the first half of the 19th century, 72 built between 1852 and 1899 and over two hundred which were constructed between 1900 and 1950, and over 350 which date between 1951 and 1969 (the present fifty year cut off of the National Register).